This invention relates to ovens and particularly to baking ovens suitable for preparing pizza and other baked goods.
Establishments engaged in the retail preparation and sale of pizza and other baked goods commonly utilize gas-fired ovens including a baking chamber heated from a lower combustion chamber. These ovens may be the principal fixtures in the customer service area of the establishment and are typically arranged so that the baking chamber is accessed by opening a front oven door to provide visual observation of the baking chamber interior by both the cook and the customer.
With this arrangement and usage, the customer is able to view the pizza baking in the utilitarian looking setting of the baking chamber, which is basically a plain-looking box-like enclosure above a baking surface. In addition, with the baking surface and baking chamber heating provided from the lower combustion chamber, a period of time is required for initial heating of the baking chamber for heating and browning of the upper surface of the pizza. Also, as the door is opened and additional uncooked pizza is introduced any heat loss in the baking chamber may entail a time delay as heat is replenished by burners in the combustion chamber below the baking chamber. As a result of the reliance upon heat transfer from the lower chamber, it may be necessary to extend the overall cooking time so that the baking of the lower surface portion of a pizza does not proceed faster than the heating and browning of the upper surface of the pizza. Thus, the cooking time and efficiency of long-established types of pizza ovens may be limited by the relative separation of the combustion chamber from the baking chamber. In addition, observance of a pizza, while baking, has been made unpleasant by the flow of heat out of the baking chamber of some prior ovens when the oven door is opened.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new and improved baking ovens for pizza and similar products and, more particularly, to provide such ovens enabling faster baking with better quality control, more attractive customer presentation by simulation of burning wood or coals in the baking chamber, or both.
It is a further object to provide baking ovens enabling faster baking with better quality control by provision in the baking chamber of an auxiliary heat source which may be controlled separately or in conjunction with a primary heat source to provide faster heat-up and more accurate temperature control of the baking chamber.
It is an additional object to provide baking ovens with improved air flow effective to limit heat emanating from the front opening of the baking chamber and to thereby enable practical operation with an open baking chamber.